ABSTRACT:
Today, there is hardly any room for mediocrity in a business environment. To survive in the present economic market, it is turning inevitable for the business industry to explore and incorporate more creative and flexible human resource plans in order to increment profitability and achieve stability. Management ethics is being seen as a vital step in this direction. A good leader is not born everyday. He is as rare as the blue moon. The word leader itself implies very extraordinary style and power displayed and achieved. Leadership qualities are an essential prerequisite for a team leader. It is this quality which gives him a reputation by which he is recognized. He is one who places his team first and foremost. Since he bears the welfare of his country and organization at heart, he also criticizes the wrong policies that prevail. He shows constructive criticism without any self interest or motive. In this age of globalization with severe competition there is need for perfection in every field. A leader of the present day needs to be a perfectionist in rendering his service. It therefore calls for sincerity, devotion and strict discipline towards his organization.
BRIEF OUTLINE:
I have found the paper to be innovative and equally exciting .I have acquitted myself to this task and worked to the best of my ability to make my paper more objective, creative and responsive. I have made an effort to bring to light the manifestations of the leadership development styles of the team or group leaders .The most important issue that lies before an organization is to preserve and maintain its sovereignity.The goals set by the organization can only be achieved through collective co-operation. Good leadership coupled with proper orientation on the part of the team leader could carry the team towards a collective goal. It is his vision that could provide phenomenal boost to the entire team. In order to accomplish his and his team members’ target he should possess acclaimed leadership and management ethics . His interpersonal relations with the team members and implicit faith in them should enable him to mould them into his vision. It is his strategies, approach and vision that would make the organization a strong contender in the field of business.
INTRODUCTION:
Our economy grows each day and so does the level of competition and challenge in the business market. Every establishment of the world strives to achieve organizational success through cost reduction and profit maximization. Managers constantly strive to understand the various factors that influence organizational efficiency and productivity. There were periods in history when ethics had hardly anything to do with the art of business. Fraud and exploitation were almost taken for granted in business. For earlier businessmen, if anything they did earned them well, they supposed their business to be on the right track.
Ethics can be defined as moral conduct that not only constitutes the outward behavior and social etiquettes but virtues like honesty, generosity humility truthfulness and compassion on the part of a person. Modern business however in course of time, has developed its own ethical perspective. No longer do the businessmen of the present prefer to carry their work unethically. If the hunger to earn more profit has increased tremendously, the ways and methodologies have changed drastically as well. Business ethics are not universally constant entities. What is ethically correct for one might not be the same for some one else. However, we may define our present business ethics as a set of values and principles that allow us to ascertain how far we may go in our endeavor without disrupting our organizational culture. An organization is a term coined to a collection of several human beings who work together to accomplish a common goal. Each and every one of the employees of an organization is thus as much of importance as the entire organization. Undoubtedly thus, individual behavior forms the backbone of every organizational phenomenon that deeply influences development.
Dilemma, on the other hand is a situation with a couple of undesirable possibilities. Thus, the behavior of a person in an organization is deeply affected by some of the following factors:
BIOLOGICAL CHARACTERSTICS:
The relation between age and performance is a topic suitable for debate. If it was once believed that aging retarded productivity, modern researchers have ample evidence to conceive that aging enhances work ethics and powers of judgment and obviously experience. While, many some others believe that aging leads to a loss of flexibility in the workplace and creates resistance advancement in technology.
If most of us perceive that age hampers work quality and efficiency, a recent survey confirmed that workers aging more than 50 formed the fastest growing sector in the United States. Workplace absenteeism has always been an important concern related to age. Many writers have come up with a new concept of the age-absenteeism relationship. It says that an older employee exhibits high levels of unavoidable absenteeism and low levels of avoidable absenteeism and vice-versa for younger workers.
Performance of an individual is very much a function of tenure. Productivity and job satisfaction are professed to increase with tenure while there is an inverse relation between seniority and attendance.
Gender could also be a critical factor in organizational stability and prosperity. Although we no longer regard gender as a basis for assessing organizational competitiveness, some cases may arise where a man or a woman is specifically fit for a particular kind of employment.
VALUES:
Our judgment of what is correct and what is not is primarily decided by a set of convictions that we nurture and abide by. Thus values are ideas that help us pick between right and wrong. Many studies reveal that values grow along with us right from the childhood. How loyally we work and with what intensity and commitment is determined by values. Values also deeply affect our ethics, perception and attitude.
LEARNING:
Learning is a never ending continuous process that is an integral part of the life of any person. From the organizational perspective, learning distinguishes between reinforcement and castigation. Weiss defines learning as “Any permanent change in individual behavior that occurs as a result of experience”.
ATTITUDE:
We know that people have a generally positive attitude if they are satisfied with their work. Thus, attitude determines job satisfaction. Consistency, commitment and involvement in work are also deeply influenced by attitude. Positive attitude helps creating a healthy culture of trust and mutual respect in the organization.
Attitude is thus an evaluative force concerning objects, people and events. Attitude constitutes of three basic elements, namely, the cognitive, affective and behavioral components. The affective component forms the emotional segment of attitude while the behavioral component is mostly visible to the outside and is a consequence of cognitive and affective components.
ABILITY:
Not only is a manager supposed to indentify the abilities of his or her employees but must also correctly decide which job fits them the best. Ability is again divided into physical, mental and job based ability.
Physical abilities come in handy in jobs based on tough physical work. Every member of the US special operations command is physically trained and skilled enough to combat the most difficult surviving conditions. Only their supreme abilities that they incur from years of tenuous practice and commitment helps them survive such harsh environments. The same is true for a WWE fighter we see on television. Mental abilities help an individual in performing highly intellectual works. From the modern perspective, intellectual ability is subdivided into social, emotional, cultural and cognitive intelligence. The third kind of ability is the most practically viable aspect of our view. to read quickly which job an individual is best suited is yet another important managerial trait as people perform their best only when they are fit for it.
JOB SATISFACTION:
A satisfied employee is often seen to have a healthy and cheerful impact on others and the organization as whole. Modern studies have come to believe that a perception of fairness is another crucial ingredient of job satisfaction. Our performance thus reflects clearly our content about what we do. A feeling of intense satisfaction enhances productivity and retards absenteeism and turnover. Loyalty is also known to be having a deep link with job satisfaction.
MOTIVATION:
Motivation is a phenomenon that creates and directs intensity in an individual. Motivation inspires the individual to keep going for his goal. Thus, motivation can be regarded a source of psychological energy. Motivation is found to affect organizational behavior thoroughly. Managers are constantly engaged in planning and implementing different strategies to motivate their employees. Variable pay plans, skill based pay plans, employee involvement and benefit programs are a few steps in this direction.
PERSONALITY:
Personality is defined as a distinctive pattern of thoughts, feelings, emotions and behaviors that make a person unique. In addition to this, personality arises from within the individual and Personality remains fairly consistent almost throughout the life of an individual. Personality development takes time and depends heavily on our environment.
Elements of personality:
Consistency – A decipherable pattern and order in behavior.
Physiological and Psychological aspect of personality, which is a function of needs and biological factors.
Impact behaviors and actions are the immediate effects of an individual’s personality.
Multiple expressions – Personality is visible not only through behavior but our thoughts, feelings and social relationships convey a message about it as well.
PERSONALITY TRAITS:
Self-esteem gives us a reason to like ourselves. It is generally seen that people with high self-esteem are more skilled in risk management and are more innovative in their approach. People with low self-esteem are unable to handle pressure in tense situations. Self-monitoring abilities are specific managerial skills that influence human sensitivity and are determinants of the extent of our adaptability to varying environments.
Machiavellianism, named after diplomat and writer Niccolò Machiavelli, is a term that psychologists describe a person’s tendency to deceive and manipulate others for personal interests. A Machiavellianism test distinguishes individuals as high or low Machs. It is believed that high Machs are stronger and more confident people who desire to win in every case while low Machs are those who lead their life more ethicality, with a strong moral fiber.
Individual’s perception of the determinants of a position in the future is known as the locus of control, which is classified as external and internal. People with external loci of control are mostly subdued individuals who prefer to be controlled. Internal locus of control imparts more energy and vigor to one’s personality. Internals wish to control rather than being controlled. Recent studies have reported increased work dissatisfaction and absenteeism to be more associated with externals than internals.
EMOTIONS:
Emotions are defined as intense, object oriented feelings. The modern business approach has lead to the creation of a new system of learning that directly rates organizational productivity as directly a function of Emotional Intelligence, which is the ability to process emotional information through the perception, assimilation, understanding, and management of emotions. Some researchers also consider EI as an array of non-cognitive abilities, competencies, and skills that ultimately influences organizational effectiveness. Organizational EI has given way to the evolution of a new class of workers practicing who practice emotional labor.
It is believed that individuals who are aware of their emotions can work more effectively. Managerial skills include a deep understanding of emotions and a strong control over them as emotions can impart significant changes into decisions. Positively directed emotions augment problem solving skills and perception. Emotions may also have a tremendous impact upon motivation.
Leadership is the ability of an individual to lead some other individuals. Leadership thus requires that the leader has a complete influence on his listeners. The interaction of the leader with his people is emotional. An effective leader must learn to control his or her emotions which makes a major impact upon the mass. Individuals often get carried away and lose control of their emotions, engaging in conflicts and disagreements. This can not only be a setback for the individual, but can strongly impact productivity and organizational culture.
PERCEPTION:
Perception is a process of self organization that enables us to visualize an episode more transparently. An individual interprets his or her impressions of the activities of the world outside. Perception helps an individual to structure his or her work more effectively.
Experience, personality, ethics and motivation are a few factors that have an effect on individual perception. Subsequently, work satisfaction and absenteeism also depend on what meaning the worker extracts of his work. Perception is also a major influence on an individual’s social life and decisions.
LEADERSHIP tends to get affected by the following:
(a) Training and management efficacy
(a) Type of motivation
(b) Team or group leader’s relationship with fellow employees.
(c) Reinforcement within the team.
(d) Adequate feedbacks during the training sessions.
(e) Compatibility with team members.
(f) Positive mentoring.
STRATEGIES FOR LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT WITHIN THE TEAM:
To propel the organization successfully, its working environment has to have
Ø credibility
Ø commitment
Ø Complexity
Ø work ethics
Ø elegant dealings with the clients
Ø democratic behavior of the team leader
Ø Implicit faith of the leader in his team members.
A good leader is not born everyday. He is as rare as the blue moon. The word leader itself implies very extraordinary style and power displayed and achieved. Leadership qualities are an essential prerequisite for a leader. It is this quality which gives him a reputation by which he is recognized. He is one who places his team first and foremost. Since he bears the welfare of his country and team at heart, he also criticizes the wrong policies that prevail. He shows constructive criticism without any self interest or motive. In this age of globalization with severe competition there is need for perfection in every field. A leader of the present day needs to be a perfectionist in rendering his service. It therefore calls for sincerity, devotion and strict discipline towards his team.
ATTRIBUTES:
An ideal leader should be a gentleman to the core, with an impeccable character and acclaimed leadership styles. He should have the attributes of sacrifice, character, patriotism and industrious nature. He should be a great visionary in making his team a strong contender in the world of business. A proper orientation of the members is required. Each member should rise to the occasion and take it as a challenge to bring glory to his company. The most crucial role of a successful leader is to help the team members improve their skills. He should improvise upon a beginner and enable him to succeed as an elite manager.
LEADERSHIP QUALITIES OF PRESENT DAY LEADER:
A good leader motivates his team members through following attributes:
1. Communication skills.
2. Enthusiasm.
3. Distinct vision.
4. Empathy.
Besides perseverance, the success of the leader depends upon.
Ø Nature of the members in the team.
Ø Nature of the coach himself.
Ø The situation.
HOLISTIC APPROACH
A good professional leader adopts a holistic approach towards his team members. He not only enhances the hidden skills of the members but also inculcates in them an all round psychological development.
Sensible leadership with proper orientation on the part of the leader could create phenomenal strength in the minds and hearts of the members.
He has to be a great visionary in order to accomplish his and his team members’ goal.
A BEACON OF LIGHT
A modern day leader aims at improving his team mate’s performance through strenuous training. He acts as a beacon of light that would impel his to strive relentlessly in pursuit of their goal. He tactfully structures and coordinates the activities of his colleagues .
BEHAVIOUR OF THE LEADER– A Source of conviction for the rest:
1) His positive mindset should reinforce the team members.
2) He should have implicit faith in them.
3) His autocratic behavior – he should have personal authority that should enable him in proper decision making .
4) His Democratic behavior should act as a source of inspiration and commitment for the members.
5) His Decision making – His decision making, method of practice strategies and principles should tend to be optimistic .
6) His social and interpersonal relations with the team members should be amicable enough.
PERSONAL VALUES:
Personal values not only constitute their outward behavior and social etiquettes but virtues like honesty, generosity humility truthfulness and compassion on the part of the leader. He should value team work and his team members. His perseverance and consistent effort should teach proper values of business ethics. Success in business does not come by chance. Each working member has to dedicate himself and preserver in the pursuit of his goal.
AN EXAMPLEOF DILEMMA:
James was a very experienced bank employee. On the basis of his detailed financial knowledge and experience, he was promoted to team leader of a small client service team which had been operating very effectively for some time. The bank had a lot of public contact, and although the team had no formal performance standards, team members had been selected specifically for their ability to interact well with the bank’s clients.
Apart from his excellent knowledge of the bank’s operations, he had very little to offer the team. He was not well educated, especially compared with some of his team members. He had an aggressive, bad tempered manner. He had his favorites and enemies, and hassled those whom he did not care for. Not only did he lack basic people management skills, he had undertaken no management training. He was required to do formal appraisals and, despite having no background in that area, did so with some relish.
However, he lacks positive mentoring and general social etiquettes. His incompatibility with his team members proves him to be a leader with poor management skills. His leadership brings in unwanted criticism and demoralization of the team members. James fails to analyze where a problem actually lies and hence fails to resolve it. His poor decisions and feedbacks tend to demoralize his team members. His poor motivation fails to effectively channelize the spirits of the members. James can be viewed as a poor role model for the team members with pessimistic approach, disloyalty and disrespect for the team members. Hence he achieves a reputation that is scandalized with controversies .The negative attributes that persist in the team leader are that he is :
Ø unprincipled
Ø unscrupulous
Ø lacking in moral virtues
Ø inconsistent
Ø Envious of the better qualified team members.
Ø Demoralizing and infuriating his members.
WHAT LONG TERM IMPACT DOES THIS HAVE ON THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM?
The team leader, James, fails to tap the potential of the members. He fails to tactfully structure and coordinate his team the result of which is lack of cohesion and diminishing morale among the teammates. It is depressing and unfortunate that he takes advantage of his position and plays with the feelings of his team members. The team members tend to get demoralized and lose their work ethics. The team leader gradually generates pessimism and diverts them far away from their collective goal. The psychological well being of the members of the customer service team tends to get affected and they are grabbed by tentacles of depression. They fail to reinforce their own strategies and principles. This leads to the mutilation of their, competence, trustworthiness and broad perspective.
COURSE OF ACTION AND REMEDY:
. A sensible leader on the other hand would inculcate an all round psychological development in the minds of his colleagues. James may happen to be a genius but suffers from inherent inferiority complex from his more qualified team members. The remedy is not to banish him from his services but to keep him away from the customer service team of the bank. The organization should afford to send him for special training in team management. Later on he could be promoted as an adviser to plan, execute and place the directive principles of the bank. This will help prevent the ramification of his inferiority complex and his own demoralization. A sensible team leader unlike James would try to achieve his objective through:
· Enthusiasm
· Distinct vision.
· perseverance
· Empathy
· Sensible work ethics.
A leader should no doubt have authority that would help making strategies and principles but he should remain amicable enough. Appreciation and respect for the team members will bring about the reinforcement within his team.. This shows the lack of moral fiber in him. He proves unscrupulous with poor logic and judgment when he shows personal biases in the formal appraisals. James through his unethical behavior has earned hatred and enmity not only among his team members but also the manager of the bank. The attributes that is essential for a team leader to guide his team and the organization towards a collective goal.
LONG TERM IMPACT ON THE CUSTOMER SERVICE TEAM:
The team leader fails to tap the potential of the members. He fails to tactfully structure and coordinate his team the result of which is lack of cohesion and diminishing morale among the teammates. It is depressing and unfortunate that he takes advantage of his position and plays with the feelings of his team members. The team members tend to get demoralized and lose their work ethics. The team leader gradually generates pessimism and diverts them far away from their collective goal. The psychological well being of the members of the customer service team tends to get affected and they are grabbed by tentacles of depression. They fail to reinforce their own strategies and principles. This leads to the mutilation of their, competence, trustworthiness and broad perspective.
References:
Goleman, D. (2001). Emotionally Intelligent Workplace. New York, United States of America: Bantam Books.
http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/64/07879573/0787957364.pdf
http://www.hrfolks.com/articles/orgn%20mgmt/organizational%20behavior.pdf
Luthans F. Organisational Behaviour. Tata McGraw-Hill, 2002
George Bill ,Authentic Leadership, Publisher: Jossey-Bass Pub. Date: August 2004 . ISBN: 0787975281
